Enact a Cottage Food Law in California

We wish to express our support for the passage of a Cottage Food Law Bill in California. Currently, it is illegal for people to sell foods not produced in a certified commercial kitchen. A Cottage Food Law would enable individuals to sell homemade non-potentially hazardous foods, meaning foods that do not require refrigeration, such as baked goods, jams, granola, roasted coffee, and dry nut, herb and tea blends.

Cottage food laws, which exist in 25 other U.S. states and in every region of the country, open up a new realm of possibility for small-scale enterprise and localized food production. Such laws allow new entrepreneurs to develop a customer base, test the marketability of their products, and earn income. Removing the significant financial and logistical barrier of having a commercial kitchen makes starting ones own community-based food business more feasible for a greater number of people. It also gives consumers access to a greater variety of home-cooked, artisanal, and locally-produced foods. Cottage food laws also make bake sales legal.

We wish to see a Cottage Food Law in California that has minimal licensing and inspection requirements for small-scale cottage food entrepreneurs, and which allows producers to sell directly to consumers, as well as to restaurants and grocery markets.

Given the large and growing eat local movement in California and the environmental and economic benefits of local-community-based food production resources, a Cottage Food Law is long overdue in California.